Transcatheter Aortic-Valve Replacement in Clinical Practice

To the Editor: Reinöhl et al. (Dec. 17 issue) 1 report on the numbers of surgical aortic-valve replacement and transcatheter aortic-valve replacement (TAVR) procedures performed in Germany between 2007 and 2013. We are concerned about the validity of using the German Diagnosis Related Groups (G-DRG)–based data source. More reliable databases are available. In particular, the mandatory external quality-assurance database (the AQUA Quality Report) is considered to be nearly complete and therefore most representative of the German experience with TAVR and surgical aortic-valve replacement. 2 – 4 There is a major discrepancy between the numbers of procedures reported by Reinöhl et al. and the . . .